Japanese Pronunciation tip 04

Konnichiwa Minnasan.-

Several times I have heard how people complain about not understanding a foreign language after they finish their language courses.

Well here are two reasons:

1^st They make the mistake to pronounce letters and words as they do in their native language.

2^nd They don’t pay attention on how are the sounds done (of the letters and words) of the foreign language they are learning.

Two ways to improve listening and pronunciation.

• Mouth movements

Avoid to pronounce words as you do in your native language. Here is the key, even if the foreign letters seems to be the same like in your own language, these are pronounce using a quite different movement of your mouth, lips, jaws and pronunciation emphasis.

Let´s put some examples: Japanese letterふ(fu) sounds more like a  short “who” in English.  The letter “r” in Spanish sounds like letter “t” in English (e.g. letter). So pay attention to how foreigners do their sounds.

• Check analogies

Another great tip, to improve pronunciation is to make “analogies in sounds”. Look for some word or phrase in your native language, similar to that word or phrase of the foreign one you are try to pronounce. Doesn’t matter, if they do not have same meaning: For example the Japanese phrase  Ohayo:gozaimasu. Here the word  “ Ohayo:” sounds so similar  to  State of “Ohio”.  So you see it!!

Now try these powerful tips. It will tremendously improve your pronunciation and understand of the foreigner language  you are studying.

Ja: Mata

Japanese Pronunciation tip 03

Konnichiwa Minnasan.-

Today we will talk about one of the most tricky sounds when we start to learn Japanese

Sound Wa (わ). This sound is tricky because sometimes we confuse it with sound “ga” , “ba”  or English “wa”. Japanese sound “Wa” (わ). Is what we called a dipthong   a mix of two vocal sounds.

In this case sound  “u-a”.   (“u” sounds like “oo” in moon) and (sound “a” like in father). Run together both sounds keep your lips straight and your jaws down after finish the sound. And now you get the exact sound.  Remember sometimes Japanese letter は sounds like (wa) when is used as a particle.

Now you can say correctly   Wakarimaska (ua-akarimaska) ; Watashi-wa (ua-atashi-ua-a) and so on.

Ja: Mata

Japanese Pronunciation tip 02

Konnichiwa Minnasan.-
Today we will talk about a new tip that can help us to improve our Japanese Pronunciation. The sound "N" before sounds "b" and "P" .  This sound changes only when is before these letters, to sound "m". So next time you read "enpitsu" (pencil) pronounce it "empitsu" or if you read "konbanwa" say it "Kombanwa". 
Ja: Mata!!!

Japanese Pronunciation tip 01

Konnichiwa Minnasan.

Today we start a new series of tips for helping you improve your Japanese learning.

One of the biggest problems that causes us great headaches when, we starting to learn Japanese. Are What is called the whispered vowels. To pronounce them or not? For example, words like: "Gakusei or Gaksee", "watashitachi or watashtachi." Well here is a quick and helpful explanation on how to use these sounds.
Some vowels like i (ee) and u (oo) come like whispers that vanished when they are between consonants like ch,h,k,p,s,sh,,t or ts. Or when a word ends in this consonant-vowel combination. For example you may not hear the underlined vowels in kutsu (shoes,boots) and sukoshi (a little) when a Japanese native say them.
So next time you see "kyo:shitsu"  read kyo:shts.   Ja:Mata!